Heir To The Throne
by Taylor King
Summary: Sequel to "Capture and Release." A later chapter of that story featuring the Charmings children. For EC week.
**A/N: Once upon a time, I wrote a story called "Capture and Release." It was my baby and I wrote it all the time while neglecting my other stories. I have since stopped writing it and it has since been removed from this site. But I still keep bits of it around. What follows is part of the ending. I'm uploading it as a one shot for EC week with their children. Enjoy!**

David followed the sound of children's laughter. It was coming from outside…drifting in open windows.

Regina was posed before the open windows, looking down at the garden. Below, the children were chasing one another around. David slipped his arms around her waist, holding her close to him.

Henry was five, with a thick head of brown hair. He was a boy like any other despite his royal upbringings. The staff was regularly turning him away from the castle with snakes squirming in his hands or rats shoved into pockets.

Emma was a year younger at four. She had a long mass of wavy blonde hair that could barely be tamed. It was almost always adorned with wreaths of flowers or ribbons around the crown. She was lovely, and sweet, but she was a tomboy much happier playing outside with her brother than spending any time indoors.

"Well, they look happy enough." David pressed his lips to Regina's cheek. She nodded. He didn't have to see her face to know the satisfied smile that would be playing over her lips.

"They'll be exhausted tonight." Regina leaned back closer to him. "We should call them in so they can clean up for dinner."

David smiled as he pulled back. He leaned on the window frame beside her, keeping one arm firmly around her.

"Alright you two," he called down to the garden. "Time to come inside." His request was met by groans and whines of displeasure.

"You heard your father," Regina called lazily in response. "Come on now."

Henry and Emma raced towards the doorway, disappearing inside. Both waited for the sound of footsteps to hit the hallway. They were not disappointed. Both children burst into the hallway. David could already see that Henry's shirt was nowhere near tucked in, and Emma's pale pink dress was streaked with dirt.

"Look at you!" He grabbed his son and swung him onto the windowsill. "What have you gotten into today?"

"Emma pushed me down," Henry explained. He was not tattling-he was merely stating a fact. From her place on her mother's hip, Emma nodded.

"We were playing tag and I tagged him and he was out."

"Literally," David glanced at Regina, who smiled in response.

"You are a mess." Regina used her free hand to detangle a piece of grass from Emma's thick hair. "You need to wash up and change before dinner."

"Why?" Emma asked calmly.

"Because you're a princess, and princesses don't come to the dinner table looking like they were raised in the forest." Regina told her as she kissed her forehead. "So why don't we go hand you off to Rose so she can get you cleaned up?"

"You too." David turned around and knelt down so that Henry could climb on his back. He waited until his son's arms were locked around his neck before he stood up. He grabbed Henry's feet, carrying him piggyback towards the doorway.

"Not fair!" Emma whined, twisting in her mother's arms.

"You'll get your turn later," Regina assured her. "After dinner." Emma did not look impressed, but she nodded.

Both children were passed to Rose to be cleaned up. They rejoined their parents in the dining room a little while later. Emma now with her hair brushed out and wearing a green and white striped dress sprinkled with pink flowers. Henry's hair had been smoothed and his shirt and pants changed into ones that were no longer wrinkled and dirty.

They were good children. Neither one of them argued regularly with their parents. If they were told to do something, they did it quickly. Regina had given up that Emma would ever be a true princess-and she found that ok. Cora did not quite approve of the plan, but she was not arguing.

Regina's relationship with her mother was still iffy. She and Cora had worked hard together to build a better relationship-especially for the children. But David had seen Regina tense up when Cora mentioned certain things. He would never say it to Regina, but he felt that Cora saw it too. She and Prince Henry both tensed when Regina took offense to her mother's words. David did not think Cora meant to offend as often as Regina thought that she did.

But he would never say that.

David and Regina did not often speak of their past. Since those times, they had become a team. David knew that would never admit how well thought of she was by their subjects. He saw it all the time. The people who had once feared the Evil Queen now stood in awe when they saw her. He often told Prince Henry in confidence that their plan had worked better than they could have imagined.

When he looked at Henry, he sometimes thought of their lost baby. He knew Regina did. She would slip into a distant gaze. David wondered if she was imagining what their son would have looked like. He thought of that himself. He wondered if it would have been a little boy with his mother's dark looks. David could have lived with that.

He was lying in bed with Regina tangled around his side. He was idly rubbing at a red mark on her wrist. He had thought their sex life would die off. It had not.

"What are you thinking?" Regina lifted her head from his chest to meet his eyes.

"History." David looked over at her.

"Mm," Regina lay back down. "What a boring topic."

"Our history." David rubbed her back. He saw her lips curve into a smile.

"What brings that about?"

"I don't know." David sighed. "It's spring time. I always think of it in the spring...because that's when everything started."

"That's true." Regina sighed heavily. He suspected she was tired and humoring him. He took the hint, kissing the top of her head.

"I just never thought we'd be…here."

"Me either." Regina nuzzled against his chest. "I fought you so hard for so long."

"You had good reason to," David sat up to put out the light on his nightstand. Regina settled onto her side. David wrapped himself around her. Even this position was their sleeping position. It was how they'd established themselves early on.

"Well, I suppose I did." Regina turned her head back for a kiss. "But that's in the past now."

"Indeed." David kissed her lips lightly. "Goodnight, my love."

"Goodnight."

The children were playing in the courtyard. David and Regina sat nearby. Both had books, and were alternating between looking over them at the children and turning the pages.

Henry was for once playing by himself. He had arranged an army of tin soldiers and was shouting orders at them. Emma was sitting near several bushes of pink roses. She had a doll which she kept placing around the bushes and murmuring to it. David hadn't quite picked up any of that conversation.

There was suddenly a rush of footsteps. The Captain of the Guards entered the courtyard, following immediately by four other soldiers.

"Your Majesties….there's someone to see you." By the tone of the Captain's voice, something was wrong. David instantly dropped his book and stood up. The children had stopped their play. They now looked nervously at their parents.

"Who is it?" David looked beyond the soldiers.

What he saw stopped him in his tracks. Regina's book fell from her hands, but she seemed not to notice as she rose to her feet. David took a deep breath. He let it out slowly. The woman had come all the way into the courtyard. David could see her clearly now. There was no doubting who it was. Not for a second.

"Snow."


End file.
